If you asked fifteen year old Kageyama Tobio what he was doing in a locker room with the door locked and lights off, curled up on one side of a bench while blatantly ignoring the voices calling out to him on the other side of the door, he'd probably refuse to answer.

(Lest he say something else completely stupid.)

However, a certain bespectacled blocker would be more than happy to fill you in.

That is, once he managed to find the breath to do so.

"Pffft—" Tsukishima managed in between snickers. "I can't believe he—" another chuckle "—did you see the look on his face after he said it—"

Pointedly ignoring (if ignoring meant leaving Yamaguchi in charge of calming him down before he dies of oxygen starvation) the current episode the blocker was undergoing, a quartet consisting of Daichi, Sugawara, Nishinoya, and Tanaka are standing by the foot of the door.

"Hey, open this door!" Tanaka bellows, banging harshly on the wooden surface and using the throatiest voice he could muster. "I gotta run home and catch the new episode of Endless Lo—Monster Truck Rally." Before he can manage to hit it again, Daichi catches his arm, giving him a smile that said 'break this door and you'll be paying for more than just the damages'.

With the constant reverberation of Tanaka's knocking out of the way, Nishinoya uses the opportunity to voice out his distress. "Kageyamaaa," he whines, lingering on the 'a' until his voice gave out, "Asahi and I have a movie to watch, if you make us late you're paying for the tickets!"

Meanwhile, said ace is standing by the railing, concerned about the wellbeing of another member. "You okay?"

Hinata nods, not having said anything since the incident - for a lack of a better term - on the court. Asahi is left unconvinced, seeing that the shorter boy is obviously in some sort of deep thought - an expression that isn't often present on the other's face. He decides not to push it, exhaling a sigh and leaning back on the rail to watch the others attempt to coax Kageyama out of hiding.

If there's anything Asahi knew about the setter, it's that - once he's set on something - there's no stopping him. So, testament to that belief, unless something big happens, he isn't coming out any time soon.

The third year sighs, sifting a hand through his hair and turning to watch dusk sink down - a very alarming indication of how late it is. "Hinata," he begins, concerned, "I don't mean to push you into anything you're not comfortable with, but do you think—"

Hinata's not there.

In fact, Asahi doesn't seem to be the only one left speechless by the sudden displacement of their middle blocker. The group out front are stood still, parted down the middle to make way for the red-haired face of mild determination now standing before of the door.

Inside, Kageyama's stomach sinks in anticipation at the onslaught of unusual silence.

Two knocks.

(Loud taps, really.)

"Hey, stupid, let me in."

Outside, they stare at the back of Hinata's head in bewilderment - and Tanaka's milliseconds away from dishing out indignant shouts of "That's it? That's your plan!?" and "Well I could've done that if I wanted to!" (missing regular Thursday programming made him quite cranky) before two clicks sound through the open hallway.

A hand jumps out and yanks the redhead into the locker room, slamming the door shut once again before anyone could even think about attempting to block it.

::

" . . . "

" . . . "

Once inside, the two refuse to look directly at each other - Kageyama having taken a good two steps back as a precaution. He doesn't what the precaution is against but there's a feeling in his gut that tells him that keeping a good distance away would be best for his sanity.

He remains silent, expecting Hinata to drum up something to say within the next few seconds or so (he must've thought this through, right?) but, as an entire minute ticks by without a word, Kageyama decides to speak first. "Why'd you come in here?"

'Because you yanked me in here, stupid.' is the answer Hinata bites himself back from saying. "I've come to get you out of this room!" He sounds like an ecstatic seven-year-old, planting his feet on the ground and raising his shoulders just a little bit higher than before.

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"By—uh." His triumphant demeanor falters (not as if it was doing anything but making this all the more amusing for Kageyama) and he scratches his cheek. ". . . I dunno," he mumbles before looking up at Kageyama and shrugging his shoulders. "I didn't think I'd make it this far," he adds for clarification.

For a moment, all the setter can do is stare, dumbfounded as to how to react. In the end, all his frustration channels into a palm that almost slams into his own face. "You—" hisses Kageyama, mouth open and unable to articulate a word, a sound, an anything worthy enough to describe the absolute stupidity of this whole thing.

Bold. Reckless. Naive.

"—idiot."

And undeniably Hinata.

The shorter boy seems surprised at that. His eyes only widen even further at the sight of Kageyama taking a step back, frame beginning to shake with what seemed like . . . laughter?

Kageyama and laughing are two words he never thought would be in the same sentence unless the word "isn't" was between them. It's not the most attractive laugh, sure - not as if they're meant to be in the first place (and Hinata's fairly sure he heard a snort and a choke somewhere in there too) - but he couldn't care less about that at the moment.

As if on queue, the setter appears to catch himself, suddenly becoming extremely aware of what he'd been doing. Kageyama seems to shrink down, mouth open and moving mutely as he attempts to come up with a good way to brush it all off.

But all that comes to a screeching halt as he feels Hinata step in front of him, a little ways away, and lift his head up to face him.

This time, there's no lilt in his voice, no short, sharp intake of breath - but there's a drop, a light hitch in the way he inhales, and a concentrated carefulness in the way his lips draw apart. It starts off as a hushed exhale, and Hinata's eyes darting up, down, left, right - anywhere but the boy in front of him.

"I l-like you, Kageyama."

. . .

. . . like?

And so, chaos ensued.

"Eh?" The sound is short, sharp, and leaves behind a short silence. His hands snap out to clamp around Hinata's shoulders, shaking him violently. "What do you mean you 'like' me!?"

"W-Wh-What do you mean 'what do you mean'!" Hinata yells back, his body overheating and his head short-circuiting. "It means 'I like you', volleyball-for-brains!"

The reply only seems to agitate him further. "Why do you 'like' me when you go around telling everyone that you 'love' them?" He's stopped shaking the other - much to Hinata's relief - and is now standing over him, hands clenched by his sides and nails digging into the flesh. "Do you like them more than me, then!?"

"What? No!"

"Then say it!"

"N-No!"

"Say it!"

"No!"

"Say it!"

"Shut up!" Without warning, Hinata grabs the other's shirt and yanks him down to knock a rough kiss against his cheek, right on the corner of his lips. "I'm not saying it again, stupid." Before Kageyama can drum up some sort of retort, Hinata seems to wither down - exhausted from trying to process the universe of what just happened. He sinks down onto the floor, dragging them both down with his grip on Kageyama's shirt. "'s too embarrassing."

Something clicks in Kageyama's head, and - though a bit reluctantly - he understands, and lets his head rest over Hinata's - bright orange hair fuzzy against the underside of his chin. This didn't go exactly how he would've hoped, but it could've gone worse (at least he didn't have to relocate to the boy's bathroom). No sense forcing Hinata into something he doesn't want to do, after all.

But, that doesn't mean he can't give him a little push. "I like you too, Hinata."

He'll get him to say it someday.

The blocker pushes away and looks up, expression surprised until fading into one so bright and genuine and happy that it's one of the most beautiful things Kageyama's ever seen. And, with that, the setter leans down, closing the space between him and his new queen in a soft, sweet kiss.

But, until then, he'll just have to wait.

. . .

"What the hell's taking them so long?!"

"Tanaka calm down, I'm sure Hinata's handling the situation just fi—"

"To hell with that! I'm breaking the goddamn door down!"

"No wai—"

Needless to say, the day ended on a rather interesting note.

A/N: I posted this on tumblr earlier today, so I thought I'd update this one too. I hope my characterization was okay u.u